


I'll Find My Dreams, Buy My Ticket

by maelstromdeparture



Series: On The Waves [1]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fashion & Models, Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, Alternate Universe - Surfers, Bang Chan is a Sweetheart, Dancer Lee Minho | Lee Know, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Lee Minho | Lee Know is Whipped, Lee Minho | Lee Know is a Sweetheart, Mentioned Bangtan Boys | BTS Member(s), Mentioned GOT7 Ensemble, Mentioned TXT Ensemble, Model Lee Know, Photographer jisung, Surfer Bang Chan, Surfer Lee Felix, escapism i guess?, i will probably add more tags eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 07:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24346972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maelstromdeparture/pseuds/maelstromdeparture
Summary: After a disastrous break up that left Minho's heart broken and beaten his best friend Jisung decides that the best thing to do is get Minho somewhere that he doesn't have to face it everyday and put on a mask, somewhere he can find himself again. So Jisung buys two one way tickets to Sydney and the two crash in the guest room of Jisung's friend Felix and his roommate Seungmin's beach home. Felix, Seungmin, Jeongin, and Chan help Minho find what he'd lost in Seoul among the salty waves of the ocean. Minho finds freedom on the beaches of Sydney and if he can let himself take the jump maybe some love too.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Felix, Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin, Kim Seungmin/Yang Jeongin | I.N
Series: On The Waves [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1766059
Comments: 22
Kudos: 124





	1. Jisung Kidnaps Minho and They Meet Two Loud Surfer Boys

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not just fantastic with writing romance because it's not the kind of stuff I normally like reading all that much but I had this idea and it just wouldn't let up so I figured I'd give it a shot. 
> 
> Enjoy! :)
> 
> English is italicized

Minho hadn’t had a complete breakdown like this in years. Not since high school at least, back when he was a mostly friendless loner when only Jisung talked to him. Jisung had always had a camera in his hands, always. Ever since the moment Minho had met him, Jisung had been taking pictures of the scenery around him and Minho had quickly become part of that scenery in high school when Jisung had moved from Malaysia. Jisung had talked about wanting to be a wildlife photographer for animal rights activist groups and travel magazines. Minho had just wanted to dance. It had been the only thing he had ever really loved. Jisung had been by his side since day one of freshman year and had stuck by him since that moment through all the stress and insecurities they both dealt with and every heartbreak and late night ice cream run and sleep over full of secrets and tears. Jisung knew him better than anyone in the world and had been the reason that Minho’s Instagram had taken off. Jisung had been the one to push for him to accept the sponsorships and to start modelling for real. Jisung had stuck by his side after he’d gotten to be a model in Teen Idol and he’d suddenly had half their high school wanting to talk to him. He’d been there for the realization that none of them wanted anything to do with Minho they just wanted to be friends with someone who had been in Teen Idol. Which meant when Minho’s latest girlfriend broke his heart and then danced on the shattered pieces and made him the talk of the industry and Minho couldn’t get away from it and couldn’t go anywhere or do anything without having to be confronted by it Jisung was the person that was there for him. After two months of crying every night and Minho being miserable Jisung made an executive decision and came over early one morning and woke Minho up.

“Jisung it is four in the morning, what the fuck?” complained Minho as Jisung drug him out of bed.

“Get up, get packed,” said Jisung, “we’re leaving.”

“Leaving?” asked Minho, “I have jobs to do.”

“No, you don’t I called your agent. Jihyo-noona agreed you need a break,” said Jisung, “pack up. Actually, get dressed I’ll start packing.”

“What?” asked Minho, “Jisung.”

“Nope, no complaints, you’re getting out of here,” said Jisung, “noona gave me an entire month to get you sorted out. Two if necessary. We’ll buy more clothes if we have to. Up, get dressed. Where do you keep your swimsuits?”

“What?” asked Minho.

“Swimsuits,” said Jisung.

“Jisung, explain,” said Minho.

“I bought us one-way tickets to Sydney, Australia,” said Jisung. “No hotel, no return date, us and the beach and meeting my friend’s fish and crashing in the bunk in his and his roommate’s guest room. Felix said he’ll teach us to surf. No worrying about pictures, fashion, or stupid ex’s. Only thing to worry about is ice cream, tan lines, and ordering food with your accent.”

“Australia?” asked Minho running a hand through his hair.

“Yes, our flight leaves at nine, we need to be at the airport by seven,” said Jisung, “so get ready and then help me finish packing.” Minho ran a hand down his face and then stood up to start getting ready.

“Where’s your suitcase?” asked Jisung.

“Top of the hall closet,” said Minho and Jisung’s footsteps followed and then a thunk letting him know that he’d found the suitcase.

“Why don’t we live together, hyung?” asked Jisung, “your apartment is so empty and boring.”

“It’s not you’re always here anyway,” said Minho yawning as he spoke, “and we don’t live together because I would smother you in your sleep because you annoyed me too much.”

“Lies,” complained Jisung, “slander.”

“It is too early for your dramatics,” said Minho groaning.

“It is never too early and I’m not dramatic,” said Jisung, “swimsuits?”

“Top drawer of the dresser,” said Minho. Jisung started pulling drawers open and clothes out of the closet and kept up a mostly one sided conversation the whole time. Once Minho finished getting ready he started helping Jisung throw things into his suitcase.

“Alright, just enough time, let’s go,” said Jisung as Minho pulled on his shoes and Jisung handed him a mask. Minho pulled his suitcase behind him and locked the door and they were off to the airport.

Airports were a nightmare and Minho was exhausted, even Jisung was dragging slightly as they waited for their suitcases.

“There,” said Minho pointing and grabbing his suitcase. Jisung spotted his next and grabbed it.

“Ready,” said Jisung nodding. “Lix said he was picking us up so hopefully he’s here.”

“Will you be able to spot him?” asked Minho as Jisung started looking at the signs trying to find where they needed to go and started in the right direction, Minho trailing behind him.

“Shouldn’t be hard,” said Jisung shrugging, “his hair’s orange.”

“Orange?” asked Minho, “like a red head?”

“No, as in he dyed it bright orange,” said Jisung shaking his head, “he’s always cycled through dyeing his hair bright colors.”

“Okay,” said Minho reaching out to grab onto Jisung’s elbow so he didn’t lose him in the crowded airport. The two of them stopped once they reached the pick-up zone and Jisung looked around.

“Han Jisung!” screamed a voice a few yards away. They both turned to look and saw a pair of boys standing up in a white Jeep convertible waving enthusiastically. Jisung brightened excitedly and waved.

“Felix!” he yelled. He grabbed Minho’s hand and ran towards them, Minho laughed and let Jisung pull him towards the two crazy boys. The one with the bright orange hair was in the passenger seat and must be Felix, and the boy driving had bright red hair. There were surf boards sticking out of the back and both boys had wet hair. The orange haired boy jumped out and tackled Jisung into a hug.

“Welcome to Sydney, mate!” he said excitedly and helped Jisung get his suitcase up into the back of the jeep and then helped with Minho’s.

“Hey, you must be Minho then. I’m Felix, nice to meet you,” said Felix brightly, “I’ve heard enough about you that I feel like I already know you.”

“Honestly same,” said Minho with a laugh nodding, “did Jisung give you more of a warning we were coming than he did me?”

“Called me up yesterday and asked if he still had a standing invitation to me and Minnie’s guestroom,” said Felix with a laugh, “can’t say I’m surprised though. Welcome to Sydney. When’d he tell you?”

“Four am this morning,” said Minho rolling his eyes and Felix laughed.

“Sucks, man,” said Felix laughing.

“So, I’m hearing we need to get you all home so you can nap and maybe coffee in time to have you up and ready for the sacrifice,” said the boy with the red hair, “everybody in and we can get home. Hi by the way, I’m Kim Seungmin.”

“Hi,” said Jisung brightly as he climbed into the car.

“Hi, sacrifice?” asked Minho following Jisung into the back and pulling his sunglasses out of his backpack to put on. Felix climbed back into the front seat and turned around while Seungmin pulled out of the airport.

“We’re two weeks out from the first big surf competition of the season,” said Seungmin brightly.

“Which means all the local surfers do a board sacrifice before the competition,” said Felix, “sometimes there’s a board involved, sometimes there isn’t, depends on the group really because there’s this whole stuff about the boards and the environment,” said Felix, “Channie’s friend has been making boards since forever and makes sure us and a couple of the other local groups are supplied with all wooden boards that aren’t really wave worthy for burning. It’ll be epic, there’ll be a bonfire and it’s awesome! And then everybody goes night surfing.”

“We don’t surf?” asked Minho.

“I mean, I do a little,” said Jisung shrugging, “I learned a bit in Malaysia cause Felix hyped it up so much and I knew he competed and didn’t know anything about it but wanted to watch and stuff.”

“No worries anyway,” said Seungmin, “Innie doesn’t night surf so you won’t be alone anyway.”

“And that means we get to teach you tomorrow,” said Felix excitedly.

“Not everyone wants to surf, Lix,” said Seungmin shaking his head.

“Which is ridiculous, because it’s fun,” said Felix, “if you don’t want to we won’t make you but it’s a blast and we’re good teachers. I’ve taught Minnie and Channie taught me and Innie and we’ll probably be teaching Sungie too.”

“You have no faith in me,” complained Jisung.

“Dude, I like to think I know you well enough to know that,” said Felix laughing.

“I’ve met you in person a total of one time,” said Jisung complaining.

“He’s right though,” said Minho, “I’ve met you in person since high school and I agree with Felix.”

“This is betrayal and after I brought you all the way out to Sydney and got you an entire month of vacation. Love me, hyung,” complained Jisung and Minho laughed and let Jisung shove him playfully. Jisung beamed at the fact he’d gotten Minho to laugh so freely. It had been too long since Minho had laughed like that. They’d only just gotten to Australia and Jisung’s friends were clearly insane, but the sun was shining and there was promise of a beach and a bonfire and the chance to be a twenty year old with nothing to lose for the next month. Life was looking up and Minho hoped that Jisung had known what he was doing. The wind rushed through Minho’s hair as Seungmin pulled the Jeep out onto the street and the surfboards in the back clanked together slightly with the movement and they were moving on to better things.

Felix and Seungmin lived in a beach home that was right on the water. It was on stilts where you had to climb up the stairs to get to the living quarters and there was an entryway and nothing else downstairs, there was a balcony on the back that looked out at Manly Beach with stairs that went down. The living room had lots of windows that had been left open, the kitchen was open into the living room and there were two bedrooms. The one on the right was messy and slightly bigger and had two beds, both lofted so desks and dressers could fit underneath, the door had Felix and Seungmin’s names scrawled across it in what looked like spray paint. There were surfboards, skateboards, and a variety of other sports equipment scattered around the apartment in some form of organized chaos. The room on the left was quite a bit smaller, with dressers and a bunkbed and a bookcase. The whole home was full of windows and made it feel like you were practically outside in the sun with how open it was. It helped that there was evidence of the boys living in it everywhere. Minho’s apartment back home was spotless since he would post pictures in it sometimes, his room was the only place that wasn’t completely spotless but was still kept very clean. Minho had always liked Jisung’s messy apartment because it felt like freedom, Jisung didn’t have to worry about keeping up appearances. Seungmin and Felix’s home was the same, it was a little cleaner than Jisung kept his apartment but it was still clearly lived in. The rug had a little sand on it, the stairs had clearly been taken coming right in from the water, there were mugs on the counter and coffee in the coffee pot, there were several house plants in various states of living around the home, pens, notebooks, and paper scraps with poems and song lyrics were scattered everywhere. There was a lanyard dropped on the counter with keys and an ID Card that read, Manly Marine Life Sanctuary and Aquarium, there were a few trophies on shelves around the room and a number tag for a surf competition sat on the coffee table, there was a punch card for a local coffee shop sitting on the table in the entryway, a ticket for a music hall concert was sat beside it with a key ring with a tag that read SKZ Surf and one with a red whistle and a key labeled MLG, on the wall on a hook sat two different lanyards both with school IDs for university, one reading College of Science and the other reading College of Liberal Arts. Minho felt like in just a few minutes he’d had a glimpse into the lives of Seungmin and Felix.

“Come on in, make yourselves feel at home,” said Seungmin brightly as he hung the keys up on the empty hook and kicked off his shoes. Felix kicked off his own shoes as well, Jisung just behind him, Minho made sure to carefully put his against the wall out of the way.

“You’ll be in the left room,” said Felix pointing to the smaller of the two rooms, “it’s a bunkbed. That door there is the bathroom, there’s only the one so we’ll have to share, help yourself to anything in the kitchen. There’s boards and stuff everywhere up here and downstairs, there’s bikes downstairs too if you’re wanting to go somewhere that’s not the beach. The shopping center fifteen minutes down the road by bike is neat and it’s small and not normally crowded.”

“That door there goes down to the beach,” said Seungmin pointing, “well actually it goes to a porch that has stairs down to the beach.”

“I’m going to pull the boards out to the porch so they can dry off, why don’t you unpack and get settled in,” suggested Felix nodding and heading back down the stairs, forgoing his shoes.

“I’m going to make tea if you want any,” said Seungmin.

“That sounds good,” agreed Jisung nodding, “I’m certainly not planning to sleep.” 

“I am,” said Minho pushing the door open to their room, dragging his suitcase behind him. Jisung followed him into the room and shoved his suitcase into the corner.

“Dibs on the top bunk!” he yelled excitedly already climbing up and flopping down on it.

“There was no way you were paying me to get up there,” said Minho nodding and starting to open his suitcase and put the clothes into the empty drawers. Once he had, he shed his hoodie and changed into clean clothes that hadn’t been through the airport before climbing up onto the bed and closing his eyes. The next time he opened them the air was a little cooler and there was laughter in the living room. The door to his room was cracked open slightly and there was a salty breeze coming through the window. Minho rubbed his eyes and sat up. Jisung wasn’t in the room which Minho figured meant he was out with the other two. He walked into the living room and found he was right. Seungmin was sat on the couch, Jisung sitting opposite him talking to him, Felix was sitting on the counter in the kitchen, ankles crossed, holding a mug and laughing as he talked to them. Felix spotted him first.

“Hey, Minho-hyung,” he greeted brightly, “want something to eat? We were just talking about waking you up. We were thinking about heading down to the coffee shop to grab some food before the bonfire.”

“Sure,” agreed Minho nodding. The other three took this announcement with enthusiasm and in a few moments Minho found himself once again shoved into the back of their Jeep this time trying to get his shoes on while moving since they’d left so quickly. Seungmin had pushed the button for the CD player and a KPOP girl group song played as Felix turned the volume up and sang along. Felix had a surprisingly good voice and Minho wondered if the notebooks with music were his. In only a few minutes they were pulling up to a shopping center that was right on the beach that had a handful of shops and restaurants. They parked outside one labeled Around the World Coffee. Felix led the way in talking excitedly with Jisung while Seungmin and Minho followed the two of them.

“Felix!” yelled the barista at the counter waving brightly.

“Jackson!” yelled Felix, “ _mate you gotta meet my friends from Seoul. This is Jisungie and his hyung Minho._ ”

“Yo, nice to meet you both,” said Jackson switching to Korean waving at both of them as well. “You’re visiting for a bit?”

“At least a month, more if I can convince Minho-hyungie to take more time off,” said Jisung brightly, “he’s going to enjoy the beach and Felix promised he’d let me take pictures of the fish.”

“Jisungie’s a photographer,” said Felix excitedly, “he’s done some stuff for wildlife magazines and other more important stuff, but it’s the wildlife magazines we’re excited about right now.”

“That’s awesome, mate,” said Jackson, “there’s always someone here so if these two abandon you and you just want to hang out come hit us up. Most of the staff speaks enough Korean to get by too which I’m sure will help.”

“Really? That’s surprising,” said Minho.

“Nah, not really, a lot of us were international students or had Korean parents or came here from around the world for the surfing and people tend to group up with people they can connect with and speaking more than just English is what did it for us,” said Jackson shrugging.

“Yeah, though us and Channie had to teach Lix Korean,” said Seungmin with a laugh. “You all are doing your bonfire tonight too, yeah? Are you joining ours or do we have the Ateez Chip Shack boys this time?”

“You’ve got us!” said Jackson brightly, “the Ateez boys said something about doing a bonfire with the girls from the library.”

“Neat,” said Felix nodding, “BamBam too?”

“Yep, all of us,” said Jackson nodding, “you all want food?”

“Yes, definitely,” said Felix and started listing food items. Felix and Seungmin walked them around the small shopping center while they ate showing them what was around and telling funny stories of the two of them and their best friends Jeongin and Chan. Jeongin was apparently Seungmin’s boyfriend and had moved to Sydney for college and had connect with Chan because Chan spoke Korean and English and had lived in both Sydney and Seoul and Jeongin’s parents had been worried about having Jeongin in the dorms in Sydney with no one to go to and the two of them had roomed together since Jeongin moved to Sydney. The last store they stopped at had a large logo spray painted against their window reading SKZ. Seungmin pushed the door open and called hello loudly into the shop, which apparently sold all sorts of swim and surf supplies.

“ _Minnie! I thought you were picking up Felix’s friends from the airport?_ ” called the person at the counter and Seungmin led them in that direction quickly. It was a boy with braces and dyed auburn hair who looked at Seungmin like he hung the stars.

“ _Hi, Innie,_ ” said Seungmin beaming at him and leaning across the counter to peck his cheek, “ _we did pick up Lix’s friends from the airport, we’re showing them around and grabbing food, we’re going to head to the beach next and pick out a spot for the bonfire, you coming?_ ”

“ _Yeah for sure,_ ” said Jeongin nodding, “ _me and Channie will come with you if you want to wait around for us to close up, shouldn’t be much longer._ _Hey, I’m Jeongin Yang, nice to meet you._ ”

“Jeonginnie is my boyfriend,” said Seungmin in way of explanation, “Chan-hyung owns the shop and Jeonginnie works for him. Kai is the other employee he’s from Hawaii and is pretty cool. Jeongin-ah, this Han Jisung, Felix’s photographer friend that lived in Malaysia for a bit and Jisung’s high school best friend from Seoul, Lee Minho.”

“Oh, you’re Korean then,” said Jeongin nodding and smiling, “nice to meet you. Welcome to Australia. How long are you planning to stay?”

“At least a month,” said Jisung brightly, “hopefully more if I can convince Min-hyungie that it’s okay to take a break. Nice to meet you. You’re the youngest, yeah?”

“Unless you’re younger than me,” said Jeongin nodding.

“He’s not, he’s older than me,” said Felix shaking his head. Jeongin shrugged.

“Alright then, guess I’m stuck being the youngest for now,” he said, “it’s not the worst thing.”

“Is Channie here?” asked Felix.

“He’s in the back, he was talking to BamBam-hyung about boards,” said Jeongin nodding and gesturing to the door behind him with his thumb. Felix disappeared into the backroom.

“Chan technically owns the store,” said Jeongin leaning against the counter, “his uncle used to own it and gave it to him when his uncle moved back to Korea.”

“That’s cool,” said Jisung, “are you in school, Jeongin-ah?”

“Yeah,” said Jeongin nodding, “I’m studying art, I draw a lot of comics, I’d like to illustrate for a graphic novel.”

“That’s awesome,” said Jisung brightly.

“Hey, what about the rest of you?” asked Minho, “I know Felix is getting his masters in Marine Biology and works for the Aquarium Rehabilitation center, but what about you Seungmin-ah and Chan-ssi too?”

“I’m getting my masters in English Literature and minored in Korean literature,” said Seungmin brightly, “I write a lot of poetry and publish in a popular student owned magazine that prints in both English and Korean. I’m also a lifeguard for the beach with Channie-hyung when Channie’s not here.”

“Chan-hyung almost has a doctorate in music production and just finished his BA in English Writing, he edits for the magazine that Seungmin writes for, owns and runs this shop, helps out with the life guards, writes and produces songs for himself and for a small handful of artists he works with online, and he teaches local kids to surf sometimes too,” said Jeongin, “it’s easier to tell you what Chan-hyung doesn’t do. He also TAs and tutors for a couple of the music classes on campus.”

“Shit, when does he sleep?” asked Minho surprised.

“He doesn’t,” said Seungmin shrugging, “and he still has time to do all sorts of stupid and crazy things with us.”

“He’s the dad friend and the irresponsible enabler all in one,” said Jeongin with a laugh, “like he always makes sure we’re safe and eating and not getting hurt but he’s also the one that supplies us with alcohol and suggests night surfing and getting tattoos and piercings, hell he pierced my ears for me.”

“Somehow he’s still the person that everyone’s parents love and trust more than anyone else,” said Seungmin, “we’re not sure how he does it.”

“Gotta love that sort of duality,” said Jisung with a laugh. “He sounds cool.”

“He’s the best,” said Jeongin nodding. Felix reappeared on his own.

“He says hi,” said Felix, “you can meet him tonight. He said to close up and head to the beach with us, Jeonginnie. He’s going to go help BamBam get the boards to the beach.”

“Awesome,” said Jeongin nodding and starting to run through the closing procedures. In a matter of minutes they were back at Felix and Seungmin’s house changing into swimsuits and shoving surfboards and lanterns into the back of the Jeep. It only took a few minutes before they were crammed into the Jeep and flying down the road to reach the location they were planning to surf. Jeongin and Felix were both screaming along to the lyrics of the radio and Seungmin’s laughter punctuated the musicality of the other two with a sense of freedom that Minho wished he could bottle and drink every time he felt lonely. When they reached the spot on the beach there were already a handful of guys there setting up the bonfire. Minho and Jisung got quick introductions and jobs to help with setting up the bonfire. One of the boys was fiddling with a speaker and a phone trying to get music set up, others were pulling out ice chests and snacks and helping Felix pull the boards out of the back of the Jeep setting them up with the other boards. Seungmin flipped the Jeep around once all the boards were out so the headlights were pointed at the water and parked there.

“He’ll flip the lights on after the bonfire,” said Jeongin in explanation, “everyone will so it’s safer for surfing.” It was easy to fall into comradery with the other guys and Minho learned that he wasn’t the only one who didn’t surf so he wouldn’t be alone on the beach and Jeongin didn’t surf at night so he’d be with Minho and the others too. They flipped on the camping lanterns as it got darker and set them up around their claimed part of the beach. There were other bonfires already going along the beach at different intervals. An old and clearly well loved Land Rover with a couple of surfboards in the back screeched to a stop next to Seungmin’s beach and a pair of boys climbed out.

“BamBam! Channie!” yelled Jackson running over to help with the boards. Greetings were yelled from around the group and two of the boards were added to the pile waiting to be used while one longer one was brought over by a guy who waved and cheerfully introduced himself as BamBam and the guys set it up in the sand in the middle of the bonfire. Chan and Jackson moved back over towards them joining the group.

“Before we get started, Chan needs to meet the new guys,” said Felix brightly, “hyung, this is my bestie Jisungie and his bestie Minho. Guys this is Chan-hyung.”

“Hey,” said the boy waving, even with the lantern light it was officially too dark to really make out anything about the other boy. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” said Jisung brightly and Minho was quick to voice his agreement.

“Alright!” yelled the boy that had introduced himself as Mark, “as the oldest here, I call this year’s sacrifice to order! Who’s doing the honor?”

“Channie should,” yelled Jackson. Chan laughed.

“Alright,” he agreed, “ready?” Felix passed Minho a long torch like stick and Seungmin handed one to Jisung.

“Torches passed out,” announced Yugyeom once he had his.

“Are you doing it in Korean this year?” asked BamBam.

“Uh…” said Chan, “Minho-ssi, how much English do you know?”

“My English is passable,” said Minho, “I made it by in New York just fine so it shouldn’t be that bad.”

“English then,” said Chan nodding, “ _Friends old and new, we gather tonight on this sacred night of every year to respect the place we all call home. Though we love each other and we seek love from others, the ocean is our first love and infinite love. It reminds us we’re small, not in a bad way. Small because we realize we are part of something bigger. The ocean is beautiful and despite its dangers will love us as long as we love it. May we find this season of our lives filling with freedom and adventure and love the way the ocean fills with life. The ocean is a loving and wild mistress and we belong to the ocean. May the surf gods bless us with strong waves and the ability to catch them for another year. We pay our respects and show them with this board. Friends, brothers, light it up._ ” The circle around the bonfire had been passing the fire from torch to torch as Chan spoke, starting with Chan and the ones on either side of him. Chan had waited to finish his speech until it had finished the circle and everyone lowered the torches to the bonfire catching it on fire and then tossing the ends of their torches to join the kindling. The surfboard lit up and the fire roared to life as the boys started yelling and running around excitedly. Yugyeom turned the music up louder adding to the chaos. The firelight from the bonfire lit up the area enough that Minho got his first real look at Chan and Minho’s breath caught. The other boy was shorter than him, had bleach blonde hair that fell in messy curls framing a beautiful face with big eyes and a strong nose, the firelight flickered across his skin and Minho had never believed in love at first sight. He’d thought he’d loved his ex, but he wasn’t sure he had ever felt about her the way he’d immediately felt about the boy across the bonfire. He looked like a surfer bro, feet bare in the sand, wearing swim trunks and a loose black t-shirt with large arm holes cut in it where the sleeves used to be and a necklace around his neck, he also had multiple piercings in his ears. The world moved on around Minho and Chan was moving with it, joining the group grabbing boards as the one’s with the keys to the cars flooded the area with headlight lights. Chan shed his shirt and ran to the water with his friends and Minho let Jeongin drag him over to the snack bins, but his mind was still reeling from the angel he’d just seen across the fire. Jisung had been right. Australia was doing things to Minho that he hadn’t known were possible, it had been years since he’d had a crush set in that fast and that violently and Minho just knew that he was doomed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is now edited!!! :)))) it took me an entire month to get around to it but it did happen :D


	2. Minho Dyes His Hair and Should Really Learn to Tell Chan No

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is now edited!!!! yay!!! :)))))

Minho willingly let Felix and Seungmin drag him out of bed early every morning and onto the beach to teach him to surf. Sometimes Chan joined them, Minho liked those mornings the most. Jisung refused to get up that early for surfing, though he would be up and ready by the time they got back and would leave with Felix to go to the Aquarium for the day. He had taken a lot of pictures of fish and other sea animals and Felix and Minho both as well, putting all of them on Instagram. Minho hadn’t thought about her in almost a week now that they’d been in Australia and he spent every moment he could either on the water with one of his new friends or in SKZ Surf with Jeongin and Chan. He had also met Kai who worked with them who was just as nice and had offered to help Minho learn to surf with the others. Minho had accepted, he wanted to get as much practice as he could, he was determined to be able to surf by the time they left Australia. The surf competition snuck up on them quickly and Minho found himself with his new group of friends and their friends watching as Felix, Chan, and a handful of others that Minho recognized competed with hundreds of other surfers. He hadn’t realized until that moment exactly how good both Felix and Chan were and that Felix had earned those surf trophies he had on the shelves in the living room. Felix competed the next day as well as one of the qualifiers, most of their friends joined the group on the beach watching that one instead of competing and Minho reveled in the enthusiastic and chaotic energy of the group as Felix brought home another trophy. Apparently, what everyone had failed to mention, was the Felix was an internationally acclaimed surfer. One that would rather run for fast food and alcohol with his friends and chase each other through the waves to celebrate than talk to reporters and other international surfers. Minho wanted to ask him how he hadn’t managed to forget how to be himself with the kind of attention that came with being stopped by reporters like Felix had been after the competition. Minho wanted to know how Felix had gotten away so fast, and wondered if it had to do with Felix pursuing Marine Biology as a career and doing competitive surfing because he wanted to not because he was good at it. If Minho had been able to find the words he would have asked, but he couldn’t so he settled for watching and wishing he had the same ability. After the competitions started Minho’s life guard shifts changed and Jisung and Felix started going into the Aquarium earlier leaving Minho to find new things to do with his mornings. Luckily Chan’s mornings had freed up and Minho couldn’t help but wonder if Jisung had planned it like that. So Minho started spending his mornings on the water with Chan and then walking on the beach or running around Sydney with Chan who was a fun and cheerful tour guide. Minho’s favorite part of the day quickly became sitting out on the open ocean with Chan, conversations were easy out there where it was just them and the sea. It was relaxing and Minho couldn’t help but admire the beautiful blonde man that laid back on the surf board across from him, legs in the water, eyes closed and turned to the blue sky, one arm tucked under his head and the other lazily playing with the waves.

“Jisungie says you’re a model, Minho-yah,” said Chan casually.

“Yeah,” said Minho not even hesitant about it like he normally would be with the others. He was safe out here with Chan, nothing could touch him.

“Do you love it?” asked Chan. Minho tilted his head and pulled his bottom lip into his teeth as he thought about it.

“I don’t think so,” he said finally, “but I’m not good at anything else so it’s what I do. I need to do well at it so I can support myself once I’m not so young anymore.”

“You think so little of yourself?” asked Chan still relaxed and not shifting to look at Minho, not sounding judging.

“What do you mean?” asked Minho, “most people would say I’m narcissistic, self absorbed.”

“You just told me you think you’re worth nothing more than your face,” said Chan still sounding calm and nonjudgmental, “doesn’t sound narcissistic to me at all. Sounds like you don’t know your own worth.” Minho snorted.

“My worth last I checked was about 1.8 million US dollars according to New York Fashion Week,” said Minho shaking his head. Chan laughed and opened his eyes, tilting his head to the side enough to look at Minho.

“Impressive,” he said, “but not what I meant. Like I said you don’t know your own worth, Minho-yah. You’re smarter than you think you are and maybe you don’t realize it but you’re passionate about music and have strong opinions. You’re funny as hell when you relax, you’re passionate and determined, I think you just don’t know what you want. It’s a little like what we’re doing right now. There aren’t any waves to direct us to our purpose, nothing we’re chasing to catch and live for those few moments of euphoria, just drifting aimlessly waiting for something to pursue. I think you’re drifting instead of waiting for waves because you don’t know what you want to chase.”

“You’re good at reading people, hyung,” said Minho quietly. “Yeah I don’t really have a direction other than where my manager points me to go next. This, wanting to learn to surf is the first time in a long time I’ve pursued something on my own, that Jisung didn’t drag me along to do. Jisung has so many goals and things he wants to do. He only does model photography because he didn’t want to leave me alone otherwise he would have signed completely with a wildlife magazine.”

“You’re right I think,” said Chan smiling, “Felix adores him, you know? Said that they’ve talked about trying to date before but decided the distance was too much.”

“Jisung’s never told me that,” said Minho surprised. Chan shrugged.

“He probably didn’t think it mattered,” he said, “he worries about you, you know? You two are close, he loves you.”

“I love him too,” said Minho nodding, “he’s my best friend I don’t know what I would do without him.”

“You say you don’t love modeling,” said Chan, “what do you love?” Minho hesitated.

“I loved dance more than anything,” said Minho, “that was the one thing I never quit as a kid. Then all the sudden I was a model in high school and my manager was saying that I needed a better hobby for interviews and then I didn’t have time or energy for dancing anyway with all the modelling and the diets.”

“You haven’t been dieting?” asked Chan sitting up looking surprised.

“Oh no. I passed out once and Jisung hasn’t let me since and I recently changed managers which has made a lot of difference,” said Minho nodding.

“So let me get this straight. You’ve never really gotten to do anything that a college kid would get to do?” asked Chan running a wet hand through his curls. “You don’t like what you are doing and think it’s the only thing you’re good at so you’re doing it anyway. And you’ve been following manager’s rules since high school? Damn, mate, so like this is the first time in literal years that you have a thousand and one options of things to do and it’s entirely up to you? I’ve got a suggestion. Before I make it, you should know that Jisung said your manager is worried about you and wanted you to ‘find yourself’ or something while you’re here so don’t worry about them.”

“Should I be concerned?” asked Minho raising an eyebrow.

“Let’s do something crazy,” said Chan grinning and leaning forward.

“Like what?” asked Minho shaking his head, “getting on a one way flight to a foreign country at four in the morning is something I already did, Chan.” Chan laughed.

“I don’t know, all of it, everything. Dye our hair crazy colors, pierce our ears, get tattoos, go to parties, hell teach me to dance, Minho-yah,” said Chan beaming, “I danced for a bit when I was younger, it’s fun. I bet you’d be awesome at clubs.” It was a terrible idea, a really truly terrible idea. Minho’s entire reputation could be lost and with it his jobs and life security. But Chan was smiling at him and practically vibrating with excitement and looked like sunlight in human form and Minho couldn’t say no.

“Alright,” said Minho and Chan whooped pumping a fist into the air. He started paddling to shore and Minho was quick to follow. They walked up to Felix and Seungmin’s house carrying the boards with them, propping them up to dry. They headed up stairs to change into dry clothes and Chan led Minho back down the stairs.

“Looks like they took the bikes this morning,” said Chan, “you know how to skateboard?”

“No,” said Minho shaking his head, so Chan spent twenty minutes teaching Minho how to skateboard so they could get to the shopping center and back and Minho found he took to it faster than he did surfboarding. Once they reached the shopping center Chan led the way to the drug store and started grabbing supplies, stopping in front of the hair dye aisle.

“Color, Minho-yah?” asked Chan and Minho looked over all the colors.

“Blue,” he said finally. Chan grabbed blue dye and picked up one for green.

“Green?” asked Minho and Chan shrugged.

“Yeah,” he said nodding, “if I hate it I’ll just bleach it again.”

“Have you ever done sliver?”

“And ask for the kids to call me grandpa?” asked Chan laughing, Minho laughed.

“I think it’d look good,” he said, “you’d look like an idol.”

“Maybe eventually,” he said shrugging, “but not today. You want to do hair dye first? Or do you want to get piercings or tattoos?”

“Shouldn’t we put more thought into that?” asked Minho hesitant and Chan just grinned at him as he stood up and led the way to the cash register.

“Nah, mate,” he said shaking his head, “the best ones are the ones you do impulsively with friends because then even if it sucks every time you see it you have a memory of you and your friend having a great time.” Minho really needed to learn to tell Chan no.

“Alright,” he said, “either then.” Chan’s smile defied physics and brightened impossibly brighter. Minho wanted to live in a world where the sun was as bright as Chan’s smile… he hadn’t had a crush this bad maybe ever. It was a good thing Jisung hadn’t picked up on the fact that this crush was more than just Minho thinking Chan was attractive. Chan paid for the hair dye and they left the store, Minho following Chan down the street. Chan pushed open the door to another building and led Minho inside. It was a tattoo and piercing parlor and Minho wondered how Chan had managed to be so good at convincing Minho to do things he shouldn’t do.

“Chan-ah,” greeted the man at the counter waving with a smile, he had pink hair and a couple of piercings, no visible tattoos.

“Jimin-hyung,” greeted Chan, “have you met Minho yet? He’s one of Lix’s friends from Seoul.”

“Hey, nice to meet you,” said Jimin brightly, “you’re from Seoul? I’m from Busan, have you met Guk yet? He’s from Busan too.”

“I don’t think so?” said Minho.

“He was the other of our friends that made it past qualifiers,” said Chan to Minho who nodded.

“Oh, okay. I have met him then,” said Minho nodding.

“Are you getting another piercing, Channie? Or have you talked another of your friends into making impulsive decisions?” asked Jimin grinning.

“The second,” said Chan with a laugh, “though I’ve been thinking about piercing my tongue. Think I’ll do that today if Taehyung-hyung has time.”

“We’re open for the rest of the day actually,” said Jimin nodding, “I was just complaining about how boring it was going to be today. What about you Minho-yah?”

“I believe I’ve agreed to get piercings and a tattoo,” said Minho sighing. Chan laughed.

“Let’s get matching tattoos, Minho-yah,” he said brightly. Minho shrugged.

“Sure,” he agreed, “something small, hyung, that I can hide easy.”

“Pick your tattoos then and one of you can get a tattoo while the other gets piercings and then you can swap. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised Channie brought you here and didn’t just pierce your ears himself,” said Jimin shaking his head, “he’s got a tendency to do that.”

“He was hesitant about it, I wasn’t about to inflict him with me piercing his ears and traumatizing him,” said Chan shaking his head though he was grinning. He pulled Minho over to look at the tattoos and it wasn’t long before they’d picked one that would be easy to cover up. Minho met Namjoon who was the tattoo artist and was also Korean. Minho wondered how many Koreans he was going to meet while in Australia, it seemed like a surprising amount already. Chan stuck his tongue out at Minho when they swapped, cheerfully showing off his new tongue piercing acting like it didn’t hurt at all. Taehyung asked Minho a million questions as he pierced his ears and had helped Minho decide what piercings he wanted, deciding on two in his left and one in his right ear.

“So, Minho-yah,” said Taehyung once the piercings were finished, “Channie’s got a few minutes left with Namjoon-hyung. You’re the model that Kai-ah was telling us has a crush on Channie, yeah?” Minho felt his ears burn and wrinkled his nose.

“Well, it’s not Jisung who’s apparently been crushing on Felix for years,” said Minho shaking his head.

“What are you planning to do about it?” asked Taehyung brightly.

“Right now nothing,” said Minho shaking his head, “I just got out of a really toxic relationship I’m not exactly in a good place to be starting a new one and I have to go back to Seoul eventually and I’m not going to hurt him by making him some kind of fling.” Taehyung huffed and rolled his eyes.

“I respect your decision, it sounds like you’re trying to be a good guy, but dammit, man, Channie’s not had a decent relationship or date in years at this point,” said Taehyung shaking his head, “and I’m pretty sure he likes you.”

“There is no way he’s not dated in years. Have you seen him?” asked Minho gesturing towards the tattoo room.

“No really he hasn’t,” said Taehyung shaking his head, “he’s not normally interested in people romantically. It’s been awhile. Jeonginnie didn’t like the last guy he dated it didn’t end well.”

“Well the idea here is to not hurt either of us more than necessary,” said Minho shaking his head, “and besides it’s just a crush it’ll go away.”

“If you’re sure this is the way you want to go,” said Taehyung shrugging. Minho shrugged and the door opened and Chan and Namjoon joined them. Chan enthusiastically complimented Minho’s new piercings, lisping slightly from his new tongue piercing and wincing as talking apparently caused him pain. Minho laughed and told him to stop if it was hurting him and Chan just stuck his tongue out at Minho. They thanked the older boys and headed back out onto the street. Chan led the way on his skateboard further down the street to where he and Jeongin lived and Minho followed. They left the skateboards downstairs and kicked their shoes off at the door. It was built like Seungmin and Felix’s house where you had to climb the stairs to get to the living space though there was a porch on the beach that Minho could see from the hallway. It was a little bigger than Seungmin and Felix’s house and had two rooms and another set of stairs leading to a loft that looked like it had bean bags and a mattress on the floor as well as a tv and game system set up. The two doors on the second floor had their names spray painted across them like Felix and Seungmin’s did. Jeongin’s was pulled closed so Minho couldn’t tell what it looked like. The living room and kitchen were cleaner than Seungmin and Felix’s though still had that lived in feeling. There were various surf and swim paraphernalia around, the hooks by the door had key rings hung up in place. There was a bookshelf that seemed to be organized though Minho couldn’t tell how, possibly by similar materials, there were pictures scattered around the living room as well as a handful of trophies for various things, surfing, music, art, and poetry among them. There were pictures of the two of them with their friends and a lot of pictures of Jeongin and Seungmin and it looked like there were a few pictures of the two of them with their families too. Chan led the way back into his bedroom which was a little messier. The window was open and there were more trinkets scattered across every visible surface. Open notebooks and a million pairs of headphones and earbuds were cluttered together, there was a surfboard in the corner, a keyboard sat in the room as well. The walls had pictures and art that Minho figured must be Jeongin’s hung up. There were several plushies on the bed and the windows were thrown wide open the same way that Felix and Seungmin kept theirs open. Minho could hear the ocean nearby. Minho couldn’t help but like Chan even more, especially knowing that Chan’s room represented him perfectly. It was like getting to look into his soul.

“Alright, ready to dye your hair?” asked Chan and Minho nodded. It took far longer than Minho was expecting but Chan seemed to know what he was doing and they joked around the whole time until they were both sitting on the bathroom floor looking at each other waiting for the timer to go off so they could rinse the dye out.

“I like your room, hyungie,” said Minho after a moment.

“Thanks, mate, it’s a mess,” said Chan with a laugh. Minho shrugged.

“I think that might be why I like it honestly. You and Felix and Seungmin, your houses and your rooms are messy and cluttered and pieces of your life are scattered through all of it, it’s very you. I don’t think I’ve ever hated my own home more,” said Minho shaking his head. Chan cocked his head in thought as he listened, pursuing his lips slightly and Minho wondered if Chan knew he had perfect lips.

“Why?” asked Chan.

“It’s too clean. It looks like it’s been photoshopped,” said Minho wrinkling his nose, “I hate it.”

“Then change it,” said Chan and Minho just looked at him for a few moments, causing Chan to laugh and smile at him.

“What?” he asked. Minho shook his head.

“I don’t know. Surely, it’s not that easy,” said Minho and Chan just shrugged.

“I mean it sounds like it’s probably deeper than just you hating your apartment but fixing your apartment is as good a place as any to start, yeah? And it is going to be that easy to fix your apartment,” said Chan nodding.

“Maybe I will,” said Minho and the timer went off.

“Times up then,” said Chan brightly moving to start washing the dye out. Several minutes later found both of them looking at their hair in the mirror. Minho knew his manager was going to lose her mind when she found out he’d dyed his hair blue, but looking at it and seeing Chan’s green and his bright smile next to him in the mirror. Minho didn’t care, he didn’t want to ever go back to his natural hair in this moment because the blue would always be something he’d shared with Chan. This was starting to sound concerningly strong for a crush and Minho should probably be more worried than he was.

Several days later found Minho sitting in Felix’s living room staring at the rest of his new friends and Jisung like they were crazy.

“You want to what?” he asked.

“We’re going to the club and you need to get dressed,” said Jisung slowly as if him saying it slower made what he said less crazy.

“Jisung, if someone takes pictures of me there I’ll get in a lot of trouble,” said Minho shaking his head, “you know this.”

“No one knows who you are here,” said Chan shaking his head, “it’ll be fun.”

“Besides it’s not our first rodeo, hyung,” said Felix nodding, “Kai’s cousin is a KPOP idol. He went with us to this club and had no problems, it’ll be fine, don’t worry about it.”

“Come on, Minho-yah, it’ll be awesome and you can teach me how to dance,” said Chan. Minho really really needed to learn how to tell him no. In a matter of minutes he found himself dressed in the clothes the others had picked out for him and crammed in between Jisung and Chan in the back of the Jeep heading further into Sydney. The younger boys scattered when they got into the club and Minho felt overwhelmed. It was loud and there were people everywhere. A hand latched onto his and Minho looked down and then up to see Chan grinning at him, the older boy using his hold on his hand to pull him further into the club and towards the dance floor.

“You promised to teach me to dance,” said Chan and Minho couldn’t remember making such a promise but he wasn’t about to tell Chan no. There were plenty of people on the dance floor and Minho couldn’t help but feel self conscious about it, but Chan took his other hand and it didn’t really matter anymore. It was easy, like everything else Chan had been involved in so far. Chan didn’t really need Minho to teach him to dance but it made a good excuse to dance with Chan and Minho had fun. It was nice to be able to be normal for a few hours, to not have to worry about anything but the music and the boy in his arms. It made Minho wonder if he could stop modelling and what he would do if he wasn’t. It was a silly idea, despite everything at one point Minho had liked modelling. Maybe not now, but he had liked it. If he could go back to how it was in the very beginning he would love it again, but you can’t turn back time and Minho didn’t know how to fix it at this point.

“You’re thinking too hard, Minho-yah,” said Chan interrupting Minho’s train of thought. “Relax. Have some fun.” Chan made it sound easy so Minho decided to just let it happen and found that Chan seemed to do most of the heavy lifting and Minho just had to enjoy getting to spend time with his friends. By the end of the night Minho found himself sitting with the rest of his friends on the back porch of Chan and Jeongin’s house over looking the water with Felix laughingly teaching Jisung how to smoke. Seungmin and Jeongin were curled into each other, both smelling like marijuana and whispering grossly romantic and truly adorable things in a broken mix of Korean and English that grammatically made literally no sense. Chan was sitting next to Minho, leaned against his shoulder laughing as he watched Felix and Jisung, he too smelled like marijuana. He’d asked if Minho wanted any and hadn’t pushed when Minho had hesitantly attempted to tell him no. Minho couldn’t help but wish that this night would never end.

“Channie-hyung,” called Jeongin from where he was pressed against Seungmin.

“Hmm?” was the hummed response he got as Chan lazily shifted to look at the youngest.

“ _You look like broccoli._ ” stated Jeongin determinedly, “yum.” This caused the entire group to fall into laughter and the night rang with it. Minho wondered if this was what heaven was like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's more to come! And I'm considering making this a series because I want to do a one-shot with Jisung and Felix.  
> Also I promise at some point Hyunjin and Changbin will show up. I just haven't decided at what point that's happening.


	3. Minho Returns to Seoul and Meets His Neighbors but His Heart Longs For the Beach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is now edited!!!!!! :)))))

All too quickly the month came to an end. Minho had run wild with the Australia boys, made more choices for himself than he had maybe ever and had decided he was coming back as often as he possibly could. He didn’t want to go back to the way things were after this, he couldn’t. But it was time to go back to the real world. He was going to learn to love the life he had, he was in a place emotionally where he was strong enough to deal with his ex though he never truly had opened up about everything that had happened. He didn’t want to put that on any of the others and felt like it was the sort of thing he really needed to work out on his own. The boys had loaded him and Jisung down with pictures and souvenirs and boards of their own and made them promise that they would be back for the next sacrifice if not before and they had helped them pack up. Seungmin and Felix made the two of them keys to their house and gave them to them, telling them the guest room was theirs whenever they wanted it. And this time Minho didn’t wonder if that was what home felt like, he knew. These four boys in Australia had managed to give him home and family more than anyone else ever had. Jisung had insisted on the two of them going to the airport alone and had held it together until they were on the plane and then he’d cried. Minho held him until he cried himself to sleep and determined that he wasn’t going to keep Jisung from having everything he ever wanted. Jisung had been alright by the time Minho dropped him off at his apartment, sad but alright. Minho unpacked everything and looked around his empty apartment. His perfect apartment. He set the stack of photos Chan had given him on his kitchen counter, put the shells he’d collected on the dining room table and the surfboard in his room. It helped a little, knowing that this place was going to be his, truly his this time, not the world’s. Minho snapped a quick picture and uploaded it to Instagram. Not the habit he had gotten into of letting his fans know that he’d made it home after a trip, especially since he’d been completely radio silent for an entire month. Just a picture of the apartment and the caption: time to make some changes. Then he’d grabbed his wallet, keys, and a mask and headed down to the convenience store. It was practically empty at this time of the night and Minho wandered for a bit before buying a pack of sharpies, several cans of spray paint, push pins for the photos, and a colorful bowl that he decided he liked. He paid and headed back to his apartment building. He ran into one of his neighbors in the stairwell who had his phone out and seemed to be live streaming to Instagram and had a bag of food in one hand.

“Oh! Minho-ssi! You’re back,” he said face lighting up. Minho wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Hwang Hyunjin without makeup. Hyunjin and his husband Changbin were social media stars, they were extremely popular video game streamers, Hyunjin also vlogged and reacted to things while Changbin was a makeup artist, ironically Changbin himself almost never wore makeup or did his own, Hyunjin was his canvas more often than not, which might be why Hyunjin currently was makeupless.

“Yes, hello,” said Minho, “just got back from the airport about an hour ago. What are you doing up, Hyunjin-ssi?”

“Changbinnie and I filmed for one of our gaming videos like all day and I had far too much caffeine and am still wired. Changbinnie crashed about four hours ago so I decided to vlog,” said Hyunjin, “and also get food.” He lifted the bag of food he was carrying.

“Smells good,” said Minho nodding. Hyunjin brightened visibly.

“Want some? I’d rather have company,” said Hyunjin, “and Binnie won’t be waking up anytime soon.” Minho hesitated. He didn’t really know Hyunjin or Changbin. He didn’t do much with his neighbors, hadn’t ever really had time to be friends with people that his managers hadn’t set up. His new manager had been trying to encourage him to talk to more people at shows and jobs, but Minho hadn’t ever really talked to anyone that he picked and the Hwang-Seo family of two wasn’t exactly going to be good publicity for Minho’s job. Sure, they were very very popular internationally from their videos, and Hyunjin had connections because of the Hwang family, he was set to inherit his grandfather’s fortune, they were old money. But his own parents had disowned him so he wasn’t inheriting the company. Changbin and he had met in college and filmed ever since, married each other on a vacation in America right after graduation. But Hyunjin had always been nice and Minho decided that he didn’t care so much about his reputation.

“Alright,” agreed Minho, “I’m redecorating, want to help?” Hyunjin agreed enthusiastically and the two of them walked up another floor to get to Minho’s apartment. Hyunjin set the food on the counter and started pulling it out as he looked around.

“It’s very pretty, Minho-ssi,” said Hyunjin.

“Thanks, I hate it,” said Minho shrugging, “I’ve never actually picked anything myself and I decided I’m sick of it so the run to the convenience store happened.”

“Fun,” said Hyunjin nodding and clapping his hands together excitedly, “what’s the plan then?”

“Spray paint,” said Minho emptying the bag, “and maybe the sharpies. I bought some stencils too for the walls. And I’m going to put my pictures up also. I think I’ll hate it less if it’s colorful and a little chaotic. I wanted to open the windows but it’s so loud in Seoul.”

“It’s a shame,” agreed Hyunjin nodding. “but the view is stunning.”

“Not like it was though,” muttered Minho to himself, thinking about the view of the ocean from Seungmin and Felix’s guest room. And mornings on the water with Chan by his side laughing in the light of the dawn.

“Do you mind if I ask where you’ve been, Minho-ssi?” asked Hyunjin handing Minho some of the food and claiming a spot on the couch leaning forward to set up his live stream on the dining room table.

“You kind of disappeared off the face of the earth for a bit,” said Hyunjin, “looked like a beach maybe from Han-ssi’s Instagram. Sorry to sound like a stalker but after we hadn’t seen you at all for almost a month me and Binnie went digging trying to make sure you were alright.”

“Yeah a beach,” said Minho nodding and sitting down as well, tugging his mask off and setting it on the table. “I’m surprised you put in the effort honestly, thanks, it’s sweet.”

“Well, of course,” said Hyunjin shrugging, “you don’t really seem to have enough people looking out for you and Han is the only person we’ve ever run into in the stairs which was really the clue that something was happening because we hadn’t seen him in a bit either. So, what happened? Are you alright? You sure look okay. I like the color by the way, and the piercings.” Minho smiled and ran his thumb on the inside of his wrist, over the single string tattoo with the double knot, the one that matched one on Chan’s wrist.

“Thanks,” he said, “my manager hasn’t seen either yet, so hopefully that goes alright.” Hyunjin chuckled and nodded.

“Jisung-ah and I have been friends for ages,” explained Minho, “my only friend really I suppose. Ah, I’m sure you’ve seen if you went looking for information. I was in a relationship for a few years, I thought it was serious it didn’t end particularly amicably. Jisung-ah got tired of watching me be a mess about it and woke me up at four in the morning. He’s always been friends with this boy in Sydney, Australia. They met online before I met Jisungie, back when he was still living in Malaysia. And Jisungie’s had a standing invitation to crash in his guestroom for just as long. So, he bought us one-way tickets and we headed to Sydney. That’s where I’ve been. It was nice. Really nice. We’re going back soon. I can’t go back to the way things were after a month of being and doing what I want. The apartment is step one.”

“Sounds fun!” said Hyunjin cheerfully, “self discovery is exciting. I’ve got craft supplies from videos if you want help.”

“That’d be nice,” agreed Minho nodding.

“So who convinced you to dye your hair?” asked Hyunjin brightly. Minho laughed and stood up to grab the photographs from the countertop and brought them over flipping through them and coming up on one of Chan, sitting in his swim trunks on the beach, board behind him laughing at the camera and giving a hang loose symbol.

“This is Channie,” said Minho, “he dyed my hair for me and dyed his green at the same time. The youngest, Jeongin-ah decided he looked like broccoli, so I’m sure it won’t stay green for long.”

“Oh, he’s pretty,” said Hyunjin nodding, “is he Korean do you know?”

“Yeah actually,” said Minho nodding, “Korean-Australian. I’m planning to call him once it’s a more reasonable time of day to let him know we made it home alright.”

“Who’s Jisung-ssi’s friend?”

“Lee Felix, he’s an internationally known surfer and a marine biologist,” said Minho, “very passionate about animals, Twice, and having fun.”

“Sounds like a blast,” said Hyunjin brightly, “I’ve never been to Australia. Maybe I should consider it. Was it fun?”

“It was life changing,” said Minho shrugging, “I’ve never had so much fun. I already miss the beach.”

“Me and Binnie are going to Busan this weekend if you wanted to come,” offered Hyunjin.

“Probably not this weekend, but another time,” said Minho nodding, “I really should check in with my manager since she let me disappear for an entire month.”

“How did you pull that off?” asked Hyunjin. Minho shrugged.

“Jisung-ah did it so I’m really not sure. Apparently, she’s been worried about me or something and thought some time away was a good idea. Jisung-ah almost convinced her to give us two months but really a month was too long and I didn’t want to push it,” said Minho shaking his head.

“I’m glad you had fun,” said Hyunjin nodding. “So, what are we doing with the spray paint?” Minho set aside his mostly eaten food and stood up and started describing to Hyunjin what he was planning. In the next two hours the two of them went after every wall in the apartment with spray paint and markers and then using the push pins to hang up the photos all with Hyunjin live streaming and reading comments at the same time, the two taking suggestions from the viewers as well if they liked the idea. Minho had a blast and Hyunjin turned out to be funny and nice and Minho hoped that they could be real friends. By the end of the night Hyunjin was cheerfully calling him hyung and Minho had switched to Jinnie for Hyunjin as well.

Hyunjin became a regular fixture in Minho’s life after that, which meant Changbin did as well. Minho’s manager had been thrilled about him apparently loosening up and that he was interacting with his fans more and was getting attention for being friends with two social media stars as well. Minho wasn’t sure he understood and Jisung had just shaken his head at him and said something about how changing managers had meant things would change for the better not stay the same. They video called with the boys from Australia once a week and Minho messaged Chan every day and was always happiest when he saw a message from Chan in the morning. Jisung was still grieving not being in Sydney where he could see Felix every day, and Minho had decided that Jisung had done so much for him over the years that maybe it was time to do the same for him. He loved Jisung but he wasn’t going to be the reason he couldn’t be truly happy. Which had resulted in a long conversation with his manager, a short one with Chan, and then a long conversation with the editor for a wildlife magazine based in Sydney. Hyunjin and Changbin were in on the surprise and had helped Minho get everything set up. Minho had insisted on celebrating Jisung’s birthday several weeks early and Jisung had given him a weird look about it, claiming there wasn’t anything they were doing on his birthday this year and Hyunjin, bless Hyunjin, had helped Minho cover and claimed that he and Changbin were busy with Hyunjin’s grandfather on Jisung’s birthday and had insisted on being part of the party. The actual party had been fun and easy and Jisung had a blast eating the cheesecake and opening the presents and before long it was almost midnight and Minho had one gift left to give Jisung.

“Alright,” said Minho, “I know you wanted presents on your actual birthday, and I’ll give you one then too, I promise. But this is your real gift this year.” He handed Jisung a red envelop and Jisung gave him a weird look before opening it and reading the letter. Jisung looked up looking baffled.

“Hyung, this says I’m fired. I don’t understand. This looks legit,” said Jisung and Minho pulled out the papers he’d had hidden in a drawer and handed those to Jisung next. Jisung’s face changed and he looked up at Minho shocked.

“Hyung,” he said, “what? How? Why would you do this? I can’t believe you would do this? Did you get me fired just to get me my fucking dream job?”

“Actually I got you your dream job and then talked noona into giving me a fake termination slip for you, you still actually have to resign but she’s expecting it,” said Minho with a laugh. “You start in three weeks.” Jisung threw his arms around Minho looking like he was trying not to cry.

“But, hyung, that means I’ll leave you behind.”

“It’s more than time, don’t you think? I’ll be okay, Jisung-ah, I’m happy now. And I won’t be alone either. I won’t be the reason you can’t chase true happiness,” said Minho holding Jisung tightly. He was going to miss him more than anything, but he wasn’t about to regret this decision. Jisung had always been at his side, had given him everything he possibly could, Minho was going to give him the world if he could and Jisung’s world was in Sydney. So Minho had made sure he gave him Sydney. Jisung did start to cry then. In another two weeks Minho’s last gift was waking Jisung up in his almost completely packed up apartment at four in the morning with a one way ticket to Sydney. Minho, Hyunjin, and Changbin sent him off in the airport swearing to send the last of his boxes along after him and making him promise to tell Felix happy birthday. Chan had called the minute that Jisung arrived and there was excited screaming from all four of the boys in Sydney and then Chan lecturing Minho about having Jackson pick Jisung up from the airport instead of him and Minho had laughed. Hyunjin and Changbin spent more time with Minho after that and Minho got used to his routine. He didn’t hate his apartment anymore but he didn’t love it.

Hyunjin had taken up the habit of knocking on Minho’s door if he couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to live stream. Which was how the two of them found themselves sitting on Minho’s living room floor, a bottle of alcohol between them but not really being drank out of as they talked.

“So, when are you following Sungie?” asked Hyunjin and Minho brushed his hair out of his face.

“I’m not,” said Minho, “my life is here. My job is here. What would I do in Sydney?”

“Go to school,” said Hyunjin shrugging, “get a dance degree.”

“And do what with it?” asked Minho rolling his eyes.

“I don’t know. Teach. Dance. Hell run a YouTube channel like me and Binnie but for dance and vlogging and healthy athletic type stuff. I’ll dance in videos with you if you want. You’re popular enough on social media that it wouldn’t be a difficult transition,” said Hyunjin shrugging. And Minho was quiet. It wasn’t a bad idea. But to move to Sydney?

“You’d help me figure out how to do that?” asked Minho deciding he wanted to focus on the job part of this conversation.

“Sure,” said Hyunjin nodding, “it’d be fun.”

“Let’s do it then. Make me a YouTube channel. I’ll talk to my manager about scheduling so I have time for it,” said Minho nodding. Hyunjin nodded.

“What about school?” he asked.

“No,” said Minho shaking his head, “not yet at least. I want to know if it’s something I really want to pursue first.”

“Reasonable,” agreed Hyunjin nodding. “Me and Binnie have been discussing buying a beach house in Sydney, you know?”

“You should. It’s beautiful there. And the boys would love you two. They already love you two,” said Minho nodding.

“You should think about it,” said Hyunjin.

“Buying a beach house?” asked Minho, “I don’t have time to make that kind of investment worth it.”

“No as in moving, hyung,” said Hyunjin rolling his eyes. Minho was quiet.

“My life is here,” said Minho.

“No, it’s not,” said Hyunjin shaking his head, “me and Binnie are here, your manager is here but your manager could manage with you being in Sydney and you could do photoshoots there and fly every once in a while like you do here. It wouldn’t be that much of a change. Jisung’s there. Felix and Seungmin and Jeongin are there. Chan’s there. Your life isn’t here, hyung. Or maybe it is I suppose, technically. But your heart is on a beach in Australia. That’s where you belong. Don’t you think you deserve to be happy too?” Minho was quiet.

“I’ll think about it,” he said finally, “I’m not doing anything right away. Help me set up a YouTube channel.” Hyunjin just shrugged and moved to help him.

Chan was Minho’s first follower on YouTube and his first comment on a video and Minho made a point of always looking for his comments after. Minho loved running the channel, had fallen into it easily and Hyunjin and Changbin had fun helping him figure out how to do everything. His manager had liked that it was getting him more attention, that it was making him more personable. Life moved quickly and Minho loved watching as Jisung got to be happy. Jisung was living with Jeongin and Chan in their loft, but spent most of his time with Felix either on the beach or at the aquarium. He was succeeding as a photographer for the magazine and people loved his pictures, his Instagram popularity was steadily growing as well. Minho was slowly transitioning away from modelling and over to making videos and after a late night conversation listening to Chan and then Jisung talk about their day and how Minho had to come visit for the board sacrifice Minho made a decision and pulled up the application form for Sydney University. He got his acceptance letter in the mail a month later and Hyunjin and Changbin were the first and only people he told. A week later saw him sitting down to coffee with his manager and the two of them working out what to do if he moved to Sydney. She had listened as Minho laid out how she could be in Seoul while he was in Sydney and they could still work together and he would just do fewer jobs which he had been planning on anyway. She had laughed and waved a hand and declared she would just move to Sydney too, she had a cousin that lived there and had always loved visiting her. Which meant Hyunjin and Changbin helped Minho find a place to buy while the two of them were visiting the other five and Minho hired people to pack up his apartment and sold it.

The day of the board sacrifice he landed in Sydney with his manager and Changbin and Hyunjin picked him up from the airport and helped him drop everything off at his home that was walking distance from theirs and Chan’s. It was still before sunrise and Minho had a plan. Hyunjin had told him that Chan always went out in the early morning to surf on his own and Changbin had watched to see when Chan was going out this morning while Hyunjin and Minho got Minho somewhat settled in at his new home. They threw open all the windows and Minho relished in the sea breeze and the sound of the waves against the shore that curled through his house making it feel like home. There were boxes everywhere and two empty bedrooms. The porch sat right on the beach and emptied out into the sand. Hyunjin had hung up a hammock on it the other day and Minho already loved it. There was space for dancing, the kitchen was open and the living room was perfect. Despite the chaos it was in while Minho moved in, he loved it and just knew that it was perfect. This was perfect and exactly what he had been looking for. And now all he had to do was actually do something about the crush he’d been harboring on Bang Chan for a year. The crush that had only grown and grown. Felix and Jisung had both sworn up and down that Chan liked him too and then Hyunjin and Changbin had as well once they’d met Chan. So, Minho wasn’t necessarily nervous about rejection, but he was nervous about whether or not they’d actually be good for each other. But he wanted this. He wanted this more than anything so he was going to chase it. Which meant when Changbin called to tell them that Chan had left for the beach Hyunjin had beamed at Minho and handed him the surfboard.

“Go get your man, hyungie,” he said and Minho had laughed but kicked his shoes off and took the board. He walked along the shoreline leaving Hyunjin sitting on his porch. The sunrise was just breaking over the ocean as he spotted the figure he was looking for out on the waves, waiting for the right one. Minho raised a hand in greeting and Chan, who couldn’t tell who he was at this distance but was always friendly and cheerful waved in greeting as well. Minho paddled out to him and Chan turned to watch the sunrise, figuring that whoever would greet him if they knew him or ignore him other than a good morning if they didn’t. Minho stayed silent for a moment, enjoying the visual that Chan made sitting on his surfboard. The ocean lapped gently at Chan’s legs and the hand that trailed in it, caressing it fondly, his curls were wet and dyed a beautiful silver. The first rays of sunlight lit upon his face and Chan looked angelic, he put the pink and purples of the dawn to shame. He looked like art and Minho was certain that this was the right thing.

“Morning, hyungie,” said Minho and Chan’s eyes snapped open and his head snapped around to face Minho, gaping at him for a moment. Minho just grinned at him. Chan yelled and bolted off his board and into the ocean and then onto Minho’s board, pulling him into a hug.

“Minho-yah!” he yelled in Minho’s ear causing Minho to laugh. “What are you doing here? You said you had a job! Oh my god! I can’t believe you’re here! Why didn’t you tell me? I’d have picked you up at the airport! Oh my god, Min-ah, you’re going to give me heart failure with your penchant for surprises! Who picked you up? Was it Jackson? I’m going to kick his ass for not telling me again. I missed you so much! How long are you here for? Just tonight? You do have a job, right?”

“I mean, yes I’ve got a job,” said Minho nodding, “but it’s actually here not in New York. I missed you too.”

“I can’t believe you’re here,” said Chan hugging him tight again before pulling back, grinning as he looked him over. Minho was hit suddenly with the realization that the others were right, Chan looked at Minho like he was his world, he looked at Minho the same way he looked at the ocean and Minho had heard Chan himself say that the ocean was his true love. 

“It was time to come home,” said Minho softly, “I’m not leaving.” Chan’s face didn’t change for a minute and then he shifted to confusion as the words processed.

“What?” he asked.

“I’m not leaving,” said Minho shaking his head. He pointed to the shore line where the houses were dots in the distance and pointed to his. “That’s mine, I bought it. I sold my apartment. I’m modelling out of Sydney now and I’m enrolled for classes at Sydney University in the fall.” Chan screamed again and pulled him into a hug. When he pulled back he wiped at his face.

“Channie, don’t cry,” said Minho reached to wipe away the tears with his thumbs.

“Sorry, sorry,” said Chan sounding watery, “I’m just really happy. All my people are finally in one place. You have no idea how happy I am about this, Minho-yah. I can’t believe you moved your entire life to Sydney.”

“I didn’t really,” said Minho shaking his head. “My life was already in Sydney. Actually, Jinnie said my life was in Seoul but it wasn’t that hard to move it. But my heart was in Sydney where else would I be?”

“A year ago you wouldn’t have ever done anything for yourself,” said Chan shaking his head.

“A year ago I was a mess who had just been broken by a relationship and had just changed managers to one that didn’t want to control every aspect of my life. A year ago I hadn’t met Felix and Seungmin who let a perfect stranger into their home and their lives without question. I hadn’t met Jeongin who cheerfully accepted having yet another hyung to add to his life. A year ago I hadn’t met you. You’re everything I couldn’t be. Everything I’d never be able to find in anyone else. You gave me my life back, Channie, and you didn’t ask for anything. I’d give you the world if I could. But I can’t. I can give you my heart though if you’ll take it.” Chan gaped at him.

“I’m not as good at words as you are, hyung,” said Minho shaking his head, “but you mean the world to me and I’ve never liked anyone half as much as I like you. I’m pretty sure you’re it for me but if I’m not it for you I’ll make sure that I do everything I can to help you find the person that is. Because I love you and I don’t want you to ever be unhappy if I can help it.” Chan caught Minho’s face between his hands and Minho stopped talking letting Chan force him to look at him. Chan was crying again.

“Stop right now, that was perfect,” he said shaking his head. And then leaning in and pressing a gentle kiss to Minho’s lips.

“You’re it for me too,” he said pulling back. “I can’t believe you’re here. How are you real, Lee Minho? You’re perfect.” Minho laughed and pulled Chan back towards him kissing him again.

“We really get to keep you this time?” asked Chan.

“Yes,” said Minho nodding, “I’m here to stay.” They were quiet for a few moments enjoying each other’s presence. Chan’s forehead resting on Minho’s shoulder and Minho’s face buried in Chan’s curls, the waves rocking them gently.

“Do the others know? I mean, Innie doesn’t because he can’t keep a secret from me to save his life. But everyone else? The know, yeah?” Minho laughed.

“Jinnie and Binnie know since they helped me buy my house and picked me up from the airport this morning but no one else has any idea,” said Minho, “actually not to pull you away from your morning with the ocean but they’re probably waiting for us at your house to see how it went.” Chan laughed and pulled back.

“Well, let’s go greet them then,” he said sliding off of Minho’s board and climbing back onto his. The paddled to the shore and Minho couldn’t help but watch as Chan waded out of the waves, carrying his board with him. And Chan turned the most beautiful smile in the world to him and offered his hand to hold and Minho’s heart thumped like he was running a race as Minho took Chan’s hand and walked up the beach with him. Hyunjin and Changbin were indeed leaned against their porch in the house next to Chan’s watching for them and whooped loudly when they saw that the two of them were walking their way holding hands. Chan’s ears flushed pink but he was laughing and Minho hoped he got to listen to that sound the rest of his life.

The others are already gathered around the bonfire that night waiting for Chan to show up with the board. Hyunjin and Changbin are still the only ones that know that he was with Minho all day and that Minho had gone with him to get the board from BamBam. BamBam and Jackson had both yelled loudly and excitedly when they saw Minho with Chan and then louder when they realized that the two of them had ‘pulled their shit together’ in their own words. Their friends were doing the sacrifice with the friend group of Jimin and Taehyung from the tattoo parlor that year and Chan told Minho that Kai’s friends and his friend’s cousin Choi Soobin who was an idol was doing the sacrifice with them this year. The beach was already dark when the two of them pulled up with the boards. Jisung and Felix ran up yelling hellos and grabbing the boards from the back and adding them to the pile to be surfed with.

“You’ve got an extra board, hyung?” asked Felix as Kai and one of the boys that Minho didn’t recognize brought the sacrifice board to the bonfire.

“Yeah,” said Chan nodding as he got out of the car, “we needed it.” He pulled Minho out of the passenger side.

“You didn’t say you were bringing a friend, hyung!” called Jeongin excitedly.

“I’m not I’m bringing a date,” called Chan which set Seungmin and Jeongin into loud yelling.

“Hyung! How could you not tell us you were seeing anyone?” asked Felix.

“Do we know them? Hi! We’re glad you’re here!” said Jisung brightly moving closer.

“Jinnie and Binnie knew,” said Chan gesturing to the other two.

“We kind of had to in order to pull it off,” called Changbin shaking his head. Jisung got close enough to realize who it was in the dark and yelled and tackled Minho into a hug.

“Hyung!” he shrieked, “you didn’t tell me you were coming! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were coming! You said you had a job in New York!”

“Surprise,” said Minho laughing.

“Minho-hyung?” asked Felix excitedly bolting forward to join his boyfriend in tackling Minho. Jeongin and Seungmin ran forward as well joining the pile and Hyunjin and Changbin joined the dog pile just for the fun of it. It took several minutes before Minho was on his feet again, holding Chan’s hand and the boys were excitedly congratulating the two of them and asking if they were doing long distance and how long Minho was staying. Another round of screaming and hugs happened when Minho explained that he wasn’t leaving again. Once everyone calmed down they circled up around the bonfire and Minho got introduced to the other boys. The torches were passed out and Chan laced his fingers through Minho’s as he lit his torch.

“Ready?” called Chan. Agreement echoed around the circle.

“ _Friends, brothers, we gather tonight on this sacred night of every year to respect the place we all call home. Exactly one year ago we stood here with strangers we now call family. We stand together now and light our torches for the ocean that brought us here. We respect the ocean and love it as our first love, the one that taught us how to love each other. That which brought us all together. May we weather this season as the ocean weather’s its storms. May the gods smile upon us and may we have perfect waves and glorious freedom to pursue them. May we continue to grow and love and chase that which we love the way the waves chase the shore. Let us continue to live life fully and freely the way the ocean has shown us. The ocean is a loving and wild mistress and we belong to the ocean. May the surf gods bless us with strong waves and the ability to catch them for another year. We pay our respects and show them with this board. Friends, brothers, light it up._ ” Minho dropped his torch to the bonfire with the rest of the group and the board lit up as flames licked up it. Chan’s hand squeezed his tightly as their group devolved into screaming chaos. Headlights flooded the area with light and Minho looked to the boy beside him. One year older but still beautiful. Flooded with the lights from the headlight, the soft warmth of the bonfire tinting his face with flickering light. His curls were silver now, and just as beautiful. His nose was still strong and perfect, his jawline the same, full lips smiled at Minho and the big beautiful eyes that Minho had fallen in love with at first sight were watching Minho filled with more love than he could have ever imagined. He wasn’t sure what he had done to deserve Chan but he was happier than he had ever been or even dreamed he could be. This was where he was meant to be. On a beach in Australia, hand in hand with the most beautiful boy in the world, their friends screaming around them as Chan pulled him towards the surfboards and then the ocean, never letting go of his hand until he had to. Minho couldn’t wait to see what life would bring him next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning to make this a series though the others will probably be much shorter.  
> I want to do a one shot about Jisung and Felix and might do something short about how Kai ends up in Australia. We'll see. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I'm glad people are enjoying it!

**Author's Note:**

> I just started a new job so I'm adjusting the hours right now and don't have a whole lot of time for writing, but there is more on the way.
> 
> Thank you for reading! :)


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